little luxuries that make this bearable

• my endless cuppa' joe from Bruegger's
  
• Crazy Mocha - the best "frisbee" chocolate chip cookies around (reminiscent of the Expresso Royale days), and now the most divine brownies
• i-tunes
• free night and weekend minutes courtesy Sprint.
  
• Google Talk; AOL; blogger.com :0) and the buddies that come with ...
  
• the amazing spring/fall like weather in the 'burgh
• Superbowl madness - HERE WE GO STEELERS!
  
• Clemintines and Nectarines (now in season ... woo!)

mmm, York.

so, i've had an obsession with york peppermint patties for the past three weeks. The day before classes started - I bought a one pound bagof 'em at Target ... thinking, man - this thing is gonna be gone in aday. Starting day one of classes, the bag was propped up in my locker ... and I started off w/one a day ... maybe two if it was a particularly roughday; next I'd start taking a couple at a time, and passing 'em around to friends (although there was a cool criteria you had to hit - ofcourse!) ... soon I had everyone convinced that I had a Willy-Wonka style oompa-loompa sitting in mylocker making Yorks all day long.

Alas - I just ate the last York in the bag yesterday. It was a good bag ... lasted THREE WEEKS!seriously, it was a particularly good batch of yorks ... sigh.

P.S. - To York fans everywhere that care - "York Bites are" NOT KOSHER.

Consider this ...

... an occupied "state" (ummmm, call it P) is being groomed to become a democracy.

The plan is - P's conducting elections - the first step to becoming a democracy (an arguable point). There are two parties in the running ... the first is the one (call it A) that the world wants in power - because they're more ... shall we say, compromising? (again, arguable that this is a part of being a democracy)*. The second (call it B), is the party that the people of P want (i.e. - they VOTE for). Party B wins.

The accepted definition of democracy is:

1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
2. Majority rule.
3. The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.

The rest of the world refuses to recognize B's legitimacy, and writes off the election as unsuccessful.

Essentially, "world powers" encourage and support an election, but if the result isn't what they wanted ... can they throw a hissy fit?

Attempts to make sense of this obviously logically deficient scenario are welcome. My thoughts will be forthcoming ...


*because thats how all democracies work right? the best democracies are those that are willing to compromise the will of the people they represent.

Disclaimer: This is merely commentary on a hypothetical situation. Any correlation to current news is pure coincidence. Arguably.

5 reasons why I can't WAIT for the Winter games to start [btw, Feb 10]

5. Michelle Kwan goin' for gold
4. Bobsledding! [any chance of another Jamaican bobseld run?]
3. Ice Hockey - go USA!
2. LUGE/snowboarding/Ski-jumping!

aaannndd #1. Speed skating - GO APOLLO OHNO!

Here we go Steelers!

OMG - they won! I admit, I understand less football than I do latin (um, i don't know latin) - but today's game was pretty impressive! Big Ben is SUPER cool, and Jerome Bettis is my new hero ... ok, that maybe a stretch - but the Steelers are cool! Plus this city is going absolutely nuts - they closed down Forbes for a little bit when ALL the undergrads came POURING out of the towers and took to the streets --- its awesome! Of course, where's my camera when I need it right?

Wait, does this mean I'm succumbing to Pittsburgh-ness?

Nooooo, I'll forever be a DC snob (as Yoch points out time and time again), but I have to say I'm enjoying the craziness of NFL victory. Plus, I can't wait for the pandemonium when they WIN IT ALL ON FEBRUARY 5! And I GUARANTEE that I will have my camera!

Uh-oh!

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Hear ye, hear ye ...

Attention 2L's that plan to spend the summer in Philly ... are you looking for an apartment? A really awesome loft in a really cool building ... well look no further, for have I (erm, I=Aly) got a DEAL for you! Email me and I'll pass on the details ...

Disclaimer: this will be based on an interview, and no, they will not reimburse for travel expenses.

Just kidding. ;-)

No regrets?

For the most part, I try not to regret any of the decisions I've made in life - but if I had the chance to do undergrad over, I would really consider joining the Virginia Crew team. *Sigh*

WAHOOWA!

recent acquisitions ...

this past weekend, while visiting the munchkins, I obtained some music that I've been meaning to get my hands on - specifically, "Yeah" - Usher, "Brighter than sunshine" - Aqualung [alot like love - ost] and "Feel Good, Inc." - Gorillaz, in addition to some Jack Johnson - cooooooooool!

Of course this acquisition was not without sacrifice ... the munchkins felt the need to include "Mike Jones" on the CD to traumatize me.

How does one write a judicial opinion?

So, our kick-off writing assignment for Spring 2006 is to write a judicial opinion for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Sounds like fun huh? Well, it would be - if I knew what I was doing! I finally sat down to write it this afternoon and reaffirmed my absolute cluelessness. I haven't the faintest idea where to start. Ok, thats not entirely true - I kinda know where to start, but I've got little direction as to where this is supposed to be going.

Sound familiar? Well, thats kinda how law school is ... little direction, learn by doing, or rather - by failing - time and time again. But there is redemption - after ALOT of hard work, time and effort, there is redemption - although its not quite as sweet as you hope it would be.

I'm facing a dilemma of lack of direction in alot of areas, not just legal writing. My main purpose for the first couple of weeks is supposed to be to figure out what I'm doing this summer (in addition to keeping my nose above water with school work, but thats a given). Seems only natural ... I'm in an academic program, and I'm going to need a job when I get out - best to hit the ground running, right? Well, I'm not sure what I want to be doing. I know in my gut what I want to be doing, and what I want to be doing five years from now, but my genetic risk-averse tendencies are coming out again. I've had to really push myself so as not to fall onto the easy path which will lead me to a job/project that I probably won't be super happy with and take initiative to do something useful with my time. I've been blessed with a couple of options that are relatively easily achieved, but they're options that won't neccessarily give me a new experience, and I guess thats what I'm trying to get out of all of this. Do I sound confused? Well, I am, and I guess everyone is.

Back to the judicial opinion - am I the only one freaking out about not knowing how to write it? Why does it seem like everyone else around me knows what they're doing - have they been attending some underground legal writing class while I've been paddiddling around? Or are they all just as clueless as I am? If they are, they're alot better at faking it than I am. Or I'm just being a nerd and engaging in some unneccessary trips to freak-out over an assignment that's essentially pass/fail?

argh, I dunno.

On a high note - Bruegger's has a new coffee flavor - Golden French Toast! I kinda feel like I'm in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, eating the three-course-meal gum - "I can feel the maple syrup going down my throat!" - its AWESOME. Although I'm likely gona get sick of it soon and revert back to Hazelnut Cream, or just the regular house blend.

Miss Saigon in the 'burgh

Ok, I just discovered this ... The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. I think I'm theatre deprived ... I saw a commercial over the weekend for Miss Saigon being performed in Pittsburgh Jan 19-29, so I googled it, and found a wealth of cultural information. Now, the question is - will I ever get to go see anything!? Only time will tell. I shall add this to my list of links, and plan to add my book list too - just to keep track of what I'm missing out on while I fry my brain with Constitutional Law and Criminal Procedure among other things.


Why am I here again? Trying to remember the why ...

Too short ...

If I had a dollar for everytime I heard "too short" as the response to the mandatory "How was break" inquiry, I'd have paid half my tuition! Ok, not quite - but it is definately the concensus around here. Is two weeks and a couple of days off enough? Its just enough to allow you to begin to relax, before they start pullin' the rug from under you again!

Anyhoo, break was fun - I did absolutely nothing worth blogging about, but it was great. Caught up with people, caught up on sleep, caught up on movie watching! The first week in NYC w/Boojan was just that - watched Syriana (a-must-see!), Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (only for Tom Welling!), Harry Potter IV, The Family Stone (funny!), and a bunch of other random movies on TV ... gosh, I didn't realize that I was so movie deprived! Didn't do much else - spent alot of time telling myself that it was ok to relax, and I didn't have to feel guilty about not doing work!

Hit up DC the next week - and did more of the same, but not as much movie watching. Got to go back and visit the K&S crew which was super awesome, hit up the old haunts (EW grill, Oh's, Nirvana, Silver Diner, Borders AND most importantly - got some Chipotle! mm mm YEAH!) caught up w/the siblings - did a Fiesta night at Mo and Bhabi's, a couple of kabab and biryani nights at Chacha's ... fun times.

Got back from break on Saturday with the intention of doing work for the week - and that TOTALLY fell through, coz I didn't do a thing! Caught up w/peeps here - went to see HP IV the IMAX version which was quite the experience, visited Barco ...

Now I'm totally exhausted all the time (too much vacation?) and am fighting off a weird cold ... ah, what a way to start off the semester. The swarup clan is coming to town this weekend which will be AWESOME ... gonna be chillin' w/them hopefully!

Ah, now my Robitussin calls ... so off I go. Expect more weird law school analogies and philosophies to come ... its a new semester, yeehaw.

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COURTING AN UNDERSTANDING